WHERE WE STAND

Joint Statement of the Justice and Peace Commissions of the Redemptorists,Religious of the Good Shepherd, Benedictine Sisters, Augustinian Sisters,Order of Carmelites, Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, Order of Friar Minors,Order of St. Camillus and Missionary Sisters of Mary.

“…Look and see our suffering, we have become orphans and fatherless, our mothers are widows…those who pursue us are at our heels.(Lamentations 5)

“You who turn justice into bitterness and cast righteousness to the ground…You trample on the poor and force him to give your grains...you oppress the righteous…and deprive the poor of justice. Seek good and not evil…that you may live.”(Amos 5)

Thirty four years after Martial Law was formally declared (September 1972)and twenty years after People Power ousted the Marcos dictatorship (February 1986), we face today the horrors of a new dictatorship. We are painfully aware that as of September 18, 2006, there are 752 victims of extra-judicial killings and 185 victims of enforced disappearances under Mrs Gloria Macapagal Arroyo since she assumed office in 2001 (data from the human rights group Karapatan). At the same time, numerous cases of unjustified arrests, grave threats and intimidation, violent dispersal and systematic curtailment of civil liberties have been committed by police and military
forces who now practically bring back the dark days of Marcos’ Martial Law.

Indeed, as majority of Filipinos suffer extreme poverty, joblessness and other long-standing socio-economic injustices, the current wave of brutal human rights violations and political repression aggravate our people’s sufferings. At the national and international levels, we cried out for immediate end to the killings, abduction and other attacks against poor peasants, indigenous peoples, workers, political activists, human rights workers, peace advocates, church people, journalists, children and other innocent civilians.

With our collective memory of struggle against Marcos’ authoritarian rule,we cannot allow these extra-judicial killings, enforced disappearances,torture, illegal arrests and other human rights violations to continue. Let there be justice and indemnification for the victims of Marcos’ Martial Law. Let there be justice and indemnification as well for the victims of undeclared, yet equally brutal Martial Law of the current Arroyo administration.

We deplore the implementation of Oplan Bantay Laya, the government’s counter-insurgency program that purportedly aim to crush the ‘enemies of the state,’ that has in fact, ruthlessly assaulted the lives and liberties of hundreds of civilians. Aware of our prophetic call to denounce oppressive structures and to opt for justice for those made poor and marginalized, we, church people, take our stand as David’s posture against Goliath:

WE PERSIST IN OUR CALL TO HOLD THE ARROYO GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABLE FOR MASSIVE HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS, ELECTORAL FRAUD, CORRUPTION AND ECONOMIC OPPRESSION.

WE DEMAND THE REMOVAL FROM OFFICE AND IMMEDIATE PROSCECUTION OF ALL MILITARYOFFICERS AND ELEMENTS INVOLVED IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF OPLAN BANTAY LAYA.

WE CONDEMN THE INCURSION OF THE U.S. GOVERNMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES INTERNAL AFFAIRS SPECIFICALLY FOR DIRECTING THE GOVERNMENT’S ALL-OUT WAR AND THE COUNTER-INSURGENCY OPLAN BANTAY LAYA THAT HAS VICTIMIZED HUNDREDS OF CIVILIANS.

WE CALL ON ALL TO WORK FOR JUSTICE AS AN INTEGRAL PART OF THE PREACHING AND LIVING OUT THE GOOD NEWS.

JUSTICE FOR ALL VICTIMS OF EXTRA-JUDICIAL KILLINGS, ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCES AND ALL FORMS OF HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS!